Education. 



404 



[Nov. 1906. 



Besides the establishment of the local branches, several of the other enter- 

 prises of the Agricultural Society have been particularly useful. The Is. annual 

 subscription to the local branch secures to each member a monthly copy of the 

 Society's " Journal," and 3,250 copies per month was its last reported circulation. 

 It contains enough of useful matter to make it interesting to all classes, and 

 amongst the lower class it is playing an important part in education in introducing 

 the use of printed matter as a source of practical interest and information. The 

 Agricultural Shows have been similarly serviceable. Eight shows were held last 

 year ; four others were arranged for, but were postponed in consequence of the 

 hurricane in August, 1903. These are managed economically, for only three Shows 

 got a grant of over £20 from the Society, and none of over £50, the rest of the 

 money being raised locally and there are mixed Shows with prize lists varying 

 from £50 to £200, and include exhibits of stock of all sorts and riding and driving 

 exhibitions. Their usefulness will be increased when the instructors can devote 

 their time at the Shows to explaining in the sheds to people interested the merits 

 and defects of exhibits, and when we can afford to exhibit at work the appliances 

 we encourage people to buy and use. The utmost advantage should be taken of the 

 opportunities Shows afford as object lessons, and object lessons need explanation. 

 The Agricultural Instructors whom 1 have mentioned are partly evidence of the 

 improvement of agricultural education as well as the very useful promoters of it. 

 A few years ago they would have been regarded as the subtle agents of the tax- 

 collectors. We have six of these gentlemen at work, each in an appointed district 

 for several months, and besides practical instruction and visitation they lecture 

 to meetings under the auspices of the local branches, or, where they are none of 

 these, under the auspices of the Minister in Church or Chapel. We often now have 

 tba encouraging symptom of impatience when they are transferred out of one 

 district to another, and applications for their services long before they are available. 

 Two years ago a small experiment was tried by this Society which has been very 

 useful for the purposes that are the subject of my paper — the prize-holding scheme. 

 Three parishes at a time, parishes in which agricultural instructors were working 

 at the time, were taken as the area of operation. lu each of these prizes of from 

 £4 to £2 were offered for the best kept holdings which were entered in separate 

 classes, under 20 acres, under 10 acres and under 5 acres, respectively. The judging, 

 carried out by the instructor, with any help he might secure, was according to 

 marks in which permanent crops, catch crops, buildings and fences and general 

 arrangements were the chief sub-divisions. Sometimes nearly as many as 100 

 entries have been made in a single parish. As each competitor becomes a centre of 

 subsequent ambition in his neighbourhood, people will, we hope, pay increased 

 attention to the holdings on which they live, and aim by better and more permanent 

 cultivation to keep their crops at home under supervision instead of offering 

 facilities to the praidial thief by working in remote and isolated spots. As they 

 appreciate the meaning of home comfort they may be expected to labour more 

 sedulously to obtain it. 



In conclusion, Mr. Williams mentions two points which he considers of the 

 first importance with regard to future work : One is the need for a local institution 

 of a collegiate character where scientific agriculture in all its branches can be 

 practised and taught for the benefit of those who in the future are to be the 

 employers of labour, and the owners or managers of estates. Education does not 

 usually rise up, it filters down, and the most successful means of improving popular 

 agricultural education is undoubtedly the object lesson of properly organised work 

 under efficient management. The other point is this : to develop agriculture as part 

 of our work in Elementary schools we need to keep it educational, as a part of the 

 instruction that will react upon and vitalise the whole, not as a separate subject 



